Lamentations 3:55 · Bible study
Lamentations 3:55 Commentary: Calling from the Lowest Dungeon
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Explore how the prophet calls on Yahweh from the deepest despair, revealing faith that persists even when feeling cut off. Hebrew grammar and commentary.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Crying to God by name from the deepest place of despair and death.
- Key words: קָרָ֤אתִי (qara’ti, “I called”), בּוֹר (bor, “pit”), תַּחְתִּיּֽוֹת (taḥtiyyôt, “lowest parts”).
- Main debate: Whether the perfect verb “I called” refers only to past action or to an ongoing practice (Keil argues the latter).
- Theological theme: Faith persists in the absence of hope; covenant relationship grounds desperate prayer.
- Best use: Comfort for those who feel abandoned; a model of honest lament that does not stop calling.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.
WEB World English Bible 2000
I called on your name, Yahweh, out of the lowest dungeon.
KJV King James Version 1769
I called upon thy name, O Lord, out of the low dungeon.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, out of the lowest dungeon.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
I called Thy name, O Jehovah, from the lower pit.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
I called upon thy name, Jehovah, out of the lowest pit.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
Coph. I have called upon thy name, O Lord, from the lowest pit.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Invoqué tu nombre, oh Jehová, desde la cárcel profunda.
Invoquei o teu nome, SENHOR, desde a cova profunda.
J’ ai invoqué ton nom, ô Éternel,
Ich rief aber deinen Namen an, HERR, unten aus der Grube,
Koph. HEERE! Ik heb Uw Naam aangeroepen uit den ondersten kuil.
Io ho invocato il tuo nome, o Eterno, dal fondo della fossa;
Wzywam imienia twego, o Panie! z dołu bardzo głębokiego.
Я призывал имя Твое, Господи, из ямы глубокой.
耶和華啊，我從深 牢 中求告 你的名。
I was making prayer to your name, O Lord, out of the lowest prison.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Lamentations 3:55
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree this verse captures a cry of faith from the brink of death. The Hebrew perfect qāraʾtî (“I called”) is not a simple past event; Keil and Delitzsch argue it expresses action begun and still continuing, the prophet has called and keeps calling. Calvin sees in this an inward conflict: the flesh fears ruin while faith flees to God. The phrase “lowest dungeon” (literally “pit of lowest parts,” bôr taḥtiyyôt) echoes Psalm 88:6, 7 and evokes Sheol, the realm of the dead. Barnes associates it with the pit of Psalm 88, and Gill notes that “when all hope was gone” the prophet still had God to call on. The very act of naming “Yahweh”, God’s covenant name, is an act of trust. Even from a place that feels cut off, faith calls.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Past deliverance view: Reads the perfects of vv. 55–58 as preterites, referring to a past rescue (Nägelsbach, cited by Keil).
- Ongoing calling view: Reads the perfect as expressing action begun and still continuing, so the prophet calls from the pit in the present (Keil and Delitzsch).
What is clear: The prophet calls on Yahweh by name from a place of extreme distress and mortal danger, and this act of calling is an expression of faith in the covenant God.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Tense of קָרָ֤אתִי | The verb is a perfect (qatal). All agree it refers to action of calling on God. | Some (e.g., Nägelsbach) read it as a simple past (I called once). Keil and Delitzsch argue it expresses an action that began in the past and continues into the present (I have called and still call). |
| Reference to Jeremiah's personal imprisonment | The verse likely alludes to Jeremiah's experience in the cistern (Jeremiah 38:6). | Some see this as purely autobiographical. Others read it as the voice of personified Jerusalem or the faithful remnant of Israel in exile. |
| Role of the imprecatory prayer that follows | Verses 64, 66 ask God to repay enemies, a common element in lament psalms. | Some traditions emphasize this as justice for the oppressed. Others question whether Christians can adopt language asking for vengeance. Both sides seek to honor God's righteousness. |
Historical & Cultural Context
The Book of Lamentations mourns the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BC. Traditionally ascribed to Jeremiah, the third chapter is an acrostic poem in which each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This careful structure suggests ordered grief, not chaos. Verse 55 sits within a section (vv. 55, 66) that shifts from lament to confident appeal and imprecation.
The “lowest dungeon” likely recalls Jeremiah’s own imprisonment in a cistern (Jeremiah 38:6, 13), where he sank into mud and was left to die. But the imagery reaches deeper. Taḥtiyyôt (“lowest parts”) is used elsewhere for the underworld (Ezekiel 32:18, 24; Psalm 63:10). The pit (bôr) is a common Old Testament symbol for death and Sheol. The prophet speaks not from a physical pit alone, but from a spiritual and emotional death-space, a place where hope has no foothold by human measure.
To call on “Yahweh” by name is to invoke the covenant God who rescued Israel from Egypt. In ancient Near Eastern culture, knowing and speaking a god’s name was an act of relationship and claim. The prophet does not recite incantations; he calls on a personal God who has promised to hear. This cry from the abyss echoes the pattern of Psalm 130:1, “Out of the depths I have cried to you, Yahweh”, and finds a parallel in Manasseh’s prayer from prison (2 Chronicles 33:12, 13). Even when covenant judgment has fallen, the covenant itself remains the ground of appeal.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note no significant textual variants for Lamentations 3:55. The Hebrew text is stable across manuscripts. The variation in English translations (e.g., “low dungeon” in KJV vs. “lowest dungeon” in WEB) reflects differing interpretations of the superlative taḥtiyyôt rather than a difference in the underlying Hebrew.
Reception History
Throughout church history, Lamentations 3:55 has been read as a model of persistent prayer from the depths. Calvin used it to illustrate the conflict between faith and flesh, urging believers to call on God even when hope seems dead. Matthew Henry drew comfort from the pattern of crying and being heard, noting that “faith gets the last word.” In liturgical traditions, this verse resonates with the themes of Holy Saturday, waiting in the dark for the dawn. Its imagery has been woven into prayers for the dying and into hymns of lament, reminding the church that no pit is so deep that God’s name cannot be spoken there.
Preaching This Verse
Three-Point Outline
- Depth of Despair. The “lowest dungeon” is more than a place; it is a spiritual condition of feeling cut off, abandoned, and near death. The prophet names the depth honestly.
- The Act of Calling. He calls on Yahweh’s name. This is not a desperate gamble but a deliberate act of faith, rooted in covenant relationship. The Hebrew perfect suggests he kept calling.
- The God who Hears. Though verse 55 ends without an answer, the surrounding verses (56, 58) affirm that God hears and draws near. Faith trusts what it does not yet see.
Five-Point Outline
- The setting: From the pit, physical, emotional, and theological death.
- The action: Calling on the name, not formal prayer, but a cry of relationship.
- The persistence: The perfect tense implies repeated or ongoing calling; faith does not give up.
- The tension: The prophet feels cut off (v. 54) yet calls; despair and faith coexist.
- The hope: The next verses show God hearing and responding. The cry is not in vain.
Illustration Hooks
- The hospital waiting room: A woman whose husband is in surgery cannot see him, but she calls his name over and over, hoping he can hear, trusting someone will answer.
- The prisoner in solitary confinement: Cut off from all human contact, he shouts a name, hoping the guard hears, hoping someone remembers he exists.
- The long prayer at night: When sleep won’t come and everything feels hollow, the only prayer left is a name: “Jesus.”
Questions Your Congregation Is Asking
- What do I do when my prayers seem to hit the ceiling and bounce back?
- Does God hear me even when I feel completely cut off from Him?
- How can I keep praying when hope feels gone?
Leading a Discussion
This verse gives language for the hardest moments of faith. It acknowledges that believers can feel utterly abandoned while still reaching toward God. Use these questions to help your group explore the tension between despair and trust.
Discussion Questions
- Read Lamentations 3:55 in several translations. What does the phrase “lowest dungeon” or “lowest pit” communicate about the prophet’s condition?
- Why do you think he specifies that he called on God’s name? What does a name mean in a relationship?
- In verse 54 the prophet says, “I am cut off.” Yet in verse 55 he calls on God. How can both be true at the same time?
- Calvin describes an “inward conflict” between flesh and spirit. Have you experienced this? What helped you keep calling?
- Read Psalm 40:1, 2 and Psalm 130:1. How do these verses echo Lamentations 3:55? What hope do they add?
- Is there a “pit” you or someone you know is in right now? What would it look like to call on God’s name from that place, not to fix it immediately, but to cry out?
- How does this passage change the way you think about honest prayer in suffering?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| II Chronicles 33:11 | Therefore Yahweh brought on them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. |
| II Chronicles 33:12 | When he was in distress, he begged Yahweh his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. |
| Psalms 18:5 | The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me. |
| Psalms 18:6 | In my distress I called on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears. |
| Psalms 40:1 | For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. I waited patiently for Yahweh. He turned to me, and heard my cry. |
| Psalms 40:2 | He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand. |
| Psalms 69:13 | But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation. |
| Psalms 69:18 | Draw near to my soul and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes connects this prayer to Psalm 69, suggesting Jeremiah may have written it during his imprisonment. He highlights that God appears as the prophet's next of kin, personally pleading his lawsuits and rescuing his life from malicious enemies.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin highlights the inner conflict believers experience between flesh and spirit: even when feeling utterly lost and despairing, the prophet kept crying out to God. Faith overcomes by refusing to measure God's power by human feelings. This shows that Satan's tactic of using our weakness to stop prayer must be met with persistent trust.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note highlights that the prayer was made from a "low dungeon," emphasizing the depths of the supplicant's distress and confinement. It underscores that even from such a place of utter humiliation and helplessness, the Lord is called upon.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill stresses that the deepest distress, described as the lowest dungeon, is precisely where calling on the Lord remains both possible and urgent. Even when all human hope and help have vanished, the desperate cry to God is never too late, and deliverance may still come from Him.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB, citing Calvin, highlights that crying out from the deepest distress is an act of faith
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch argue that the perfect tense verbs in this passage do not refer to completed past events; instead they express actions that have happened and still continue. This makes the passage a prayer for deliverance from mortal danger, symbolized by the pit of Sheol, rather than thanksgiving for a rescue that has already occurred. The confident trust in God's nearness and help underlies every petition.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange treats this chapter as the carefully designed climax of the entire book, both in meaning and artistry. He highlights the deliberate suppression of Jehovah's name until verse 18 for maximum dramatic effect, and he reads the poem's three-part structure as a movement from individual despair through consolation to renewed corporate prayer.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Matthew Henry observes that throughout this chapter the prophet's heart wavers between fear and hope, complaint and comfort, but faith always has the final word. The prophet strengthens himself by recalling that God heard his prayers even from the depths of affliction, and this personal experience of God's goodness becomes his anchor.